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ECHL Toledo Walleye

Storm Tracks

December 9, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Toledo Walleye News Release


The Storm's 16-5-2 record gives Toledo 34 points which ties the Storm for the second highest point total in the ECHL with the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies and the Richmond Renegades. The Louisiana IceGators currently have the highest point total in the league with a record of 15-5-5=35; but the Storm does have two games in hand with respect to Louisiana. The Storm's (.739) win percentage is the highest in the league.

With the 4-3 shootout loss to the Wheeling Nailers on Friday night, the Storm snapped the team's longest losing streak of the season at two.

The shootout loss on Friday to Wheeling extended the Storm's longest winless streak of the season to three. The Storm snapped that streak with the 3-1 win over Trenton on Saturday night.

Saturday night's 3-1 win also snapped a two-game home winless streak for the Storm, which is also the longest of the season. The Storm is currently 12-1-1 at the Toledo Sports Arena. In 2001-02, the Storm only had 16 wins at home all season long.

In Friday's 4-3 shootout loss to Wheeling, the Storm scored the game's first goal (a power play goal by Mike Bayrack at 5:46 of the first period). That marked the first time this season that the Storm scored the game's first goal and did not win that game outright. Toledo also scored first (Grady Moore @ 14:19 of first period) in Saturday's 3-1 win over Trenton. The Storm is 12-0-1 when getting the game's first goal.

Prior to Friday night's game, Brian Finley was re-called to the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League; and Alexandre Jacques was called up to the Saint John Flames of the AHL. Those two players became the ninth and tenth players, respectively, to play for the Storm and also log time on an AHL roster this season. The other eight are: Erik Anderson (Milwaukee Admirals), Wes Mason (Milwaukee), Andrew Hutchinson (Milwaukee), Miroslav Durak (Milwaukee), Nick Parillo (Milwaukee), Paul Ballantyne (Grand Rapids), Nathan Robinson (Grand Rapids), and Matt Eldred (Cleveland and Grand Rapids).

When Mike Bayrack scored for Toledo at the 5:46 mark of the first period in Friday night's game, it snapped a scoreless drought of 139:37 for the Storm, the longest scoreless sequence of the season for the Storm.

Mike Bayrack's goal on Friday night was scored while the Storm was on the power play-the first opportunity that the Storm had with the man advantage on the evening. That goal snapped a string of 13 unsuccessful power play chances in a row, dating back to the last power play chance Toledo had in a 3-2 win over Cincinnati on November 24-three games earlier.

After scoring on their first power play chance of the evening on Friday, the Storm's PP was kept off the board in their final eight opportunities with the man advantage that night. Toledo was also blanked in all five chances that the team had with the man advantage in Saturday's 3-1 win over Trenton. The Storm has scored just two power play goals in their last 36 chances-(a 5.5% scoring ratio), a sequences which dates back to the team's last power play chance in a 6-3 win over Wheeling on November 22-seven games ago.

Overall, the Storm's power play has scored 28 goals in 152 chances, an 18.4% scoring ratio, which is 13th in the ECHL.

Mike Bayrack scored the Storm's first goal on Friday night. That was his first "first goal" of the season. He had just come off injured reserve, where he had been placed after the 4-2 win over Arkansas on November 13, a game in which he had three assists. Bayrack missed seven games while on injured reserve. (The Storm went 3-4-0 during those seven games.) Bayrack also scored a goal-the game winner-on Saturday night against Trenton, extending his personal scoring streak to three games: (2g-3a=5pts).

After scoring first in Friday night's game, the Storm gave up two late first period goals to Wheeling (@ 18:47 and 19:44), so Toledo trailed 2-1 after one period. This game marked the first time that Toledo trailed after one period of play and did not lose in regulation. The Storm is 0-4-1 when trailing after one period.

Toledo's Nathan Lutz and Nick Parillo scored unassisted goals in the second period of Friday night's shootout loss; so, after two periods of play, the Storm led 3-2. This game marked the first time this season that the Storm led after two periods and did not win the game outright. The Storm is currently 12-0-1 when leading after two periods of play.

Friday night's game marked the first time this season that the Storm has lost in a shootout. In the Storm's only other shootout of the season-November 11 in Cincinnati-Toledo scored on two of the four shots the team took-and blanked the Cyclones' shooters in their four tries-to win 4-3. In Friday's game, it was the precise opposite situation. Two of Wheeling's shooters (Michelle Ouellet and Bobby Russell) scored on Storm goaltender, Doug Teskey; while all four Toledo shooters (Matt Ellis, Darryl Bootland, Jeff Johnstone, and Dale Junkin) were stopped by Wheeling goaltender, Mike Valley.

In Friday's game, Toledo had 48 shots on goal (and that was after a season-low 18 shots on goal in the team's prior game-a 3-0 loss in Dayton on November 30). That is the second highest shot total of the season for the Storm. (The team had 50 shots on the Nailers in Toledo's 7-4 win in Wheeling back on November 2.) Toledo currently ranks fifth in the league with an average of 34.00 shots on the goal per game.

Defenseman, Nathan Lutz, had a goal and an assist for the Storm on Friday night. That marked the second multi-point performance of the season for Lutz. (He had a goal and two assists in a 5-2 win over Peoria back on November 8).

Saturday night's 3-1 win over the Trenton Titans marked the first time in franchise history that the Storm has defeated the Titans in regulation. Toledo is now 2-9-0 all-time against the Titans. The other Toledo victory came in overtime at the Sports Arena last season (in the prior match-up between the two franchises) when Magnus Nilsson scored 1:59 into the extra session on March 16, 2002. Thus, after going nine consecutive games against the Titans without a win, the Storm is currently on a two game win streak against Trenton.

In Saturday night's game, Grady Moore scored the game's first goal. That is the second "first-goal" of the season for Moore, who also opened the scoring in the 4-1 win for the Storm over the Dayton Bombers on October 19.

Mike Bayrack scored the Storm's second goal on Saturday night (at 1:57 of the second period), which proved to be the ultimate game winner. That was Bayrack's first game winner of the season. He is the ninth player on the Storm roster to score a game winning goal this season.

The lone goal scored by Trenton on Saturday night was scored while the Titans were on the power play at 9:46 of the third period. That marked the tenth consecutive game in which the opponent has scored at least one goal on the Storm's penalty killing unit. Overall this season, Toledo has allowed 23 goals in 145 chances, an 84.6% kill ratio, which places the Storm's PK sixth in the league.

Nick Parillo scored the Storm's final goal on Saturday night-at 19:44 of the third period into an empty net. That is the second empty net goal of the season for the Storm. The other was scored by Jeff Mitchell on November 1 in a 5-2 win over the Johnstown Chiefs.

In Saturday night's game, goaltender Doug Teskey made 34 of the 35 stops he was called upon to make in the winning effort for the Storm. This marked the third time this season that Teskey has made 34 stops in a single game. (He stopped 34 of 36 in a 4-2 win over Arkansas on November 13; and he stopped 34 of 37 in a 3-0 loss to Dayton on November 30.) Teskey's season high for saves is 39. (He stopped 39 of 41 shots in a 4-2 win over Dayton on November 16).

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINATION:

Mike Bayrack (2 goals - 0 assists = 2 points, Even, 1 ppg, 1 gwg, 1 fg) After missing seven games on the injured reserve, Mike Bayrack came back with a vengeance last week, scoring the first goal on Friday night and the game winner on Saturday night. Mike's first goal at 5:46 of the first period on Friday night ended a scoreless streak for the team at 139:37; it also snapped a streak of 13 consecutive power plays without a goal for the Storm. On Saturday night, Mike scored the team's second goal at 1:57 of the second period to give the Storm a two goal lead over the Trenton Titans. That turned out to be the game winner-Mike's first game winner of the season. Perhaps even more importantly, Mike had tremendous jump in his step in both games this weekend, playing with speed, skill and physicality, which was particularly critical this weekend for the Storm, who had five players in the American League and four others on the injured reserve.

GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK NOMINATION:

Doug Teskey (1-0-1, 2.00 gaa, .939 save%) Doug earned the team's nomination as goaltender of the week, not only because of the quality of his play-which was spectacular in a winning effort on Sunday. But also because of the resiliency he exhibited after having an average performance the night before against Wheeling. On Friday night, Doug stopped 28 of the 31 shots he faced-certainly not a poor performance by any stretch of the imagination; but Doug would probably be the first to say that his rebound control was not as good as he would have liked. In the shootout, he stopped two of four. The following night, however, Doug was nothing short of the difference in the game. He stopped 34 of the 35 shots he saw-many in spectacular fashion, particularly when Trenton was on the power play. More than anything else, Doug remained unflappable whether things were going well or not-and, ultimately, helped the Storm gain three of the four available points this weekend.

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